Author
Topic: Boiling water to condition (Read 696 times)

Some time ago, I seem to remember a article in which Brewer's had boiled their water prior to using. If possible can someone point that article or discussion out to me.

I ask as I live in a rural setting and have well water that is hard and has a bit more iron in it than normal. My RO System is is down and needs replacement and I feel that I have to brew a batch of Beer today and to tired (lazy) to run the 30 miles or so to a town to get some bottled water.

Any thoughts on this as I am looking to make a Summer Wheat beer (Extract kit form AiH).

If your water has a lot of alkalinity, boiling can be a semi-effective treatment prior to brewing. I wrote an article on Decarbonation by Boiling that is posted in the Ingredients section of the Forum. You need to boil for about 15 minutes for the reaction to be complete, but if there is much permanent hardness, you may not get the water much softer with the preboiling.

Your issue with iron could be troubling. That isn't removed by preboiling. You may be able to aerate the tap water by pouring it back and forth between buckets. The aeration can help convert the iron from a soluble form into an insoluble form and it can then be filtered out or it may settle out. That water can then be pretreated with the preboiling.

As you can probably gather, these steps could be a PITA. Getting your RO system back in operation may be more desirable.

S. cerevisiae

Martin, while I may be wrong, isn't slaked lime treatment more effective at removing iron than boiling? I seem to recall the engineer at the public utility where I used to live mentioning that they used slaked lime to precipitate iron.

S. cerevisiae

Slaked lime treatment is effective for reducing alkalinity. Can't see how it would reduce iron.

Apparently, it precipitates iron, radium, and manganese as well. I obtained this information from the Department of Public Water for Anne Arundel County (AA County) when I lived in AA County (the water that was supplied to my home during the winter months was fantastic for brewing pale lager after the chlorine was removed). AA County obtains water from artesian wells in the winter months and supplements with water drawn from reservoirs owned by Baltimore City during the summer months. Well water in AA County has an iron content that is high enough that it has a blood-like taste.

Most metals are less soluble when the pH of the solution is increased substantially. Yes, you can precipitate a host of metals including iron with lime softening (raising the solution pH). However, that was not the question raised by the OP.